Students all over Germany are on strike. This is breaking news. But have you heard about it?

Well if you haven’t, don’t feel bad, it hasn’t been getting a whole lot of press, even in Germany, and I’m here to fill you in.

The German higher education system has been undergoing some big changes in the last few years. The former degree program has been swapped for a Bachelor’s program in an effort to make transferring between schools in EU countries a snap. Tuition fees are going up (or being put in place for the first time).

What this means is that German students are spending more time in general requirement classes. They have less time to delve deeply into the subject of their choice. Some students have to work more (and therefore study less) to pay for tuition. There are fewer openings for further study (i.e. a place in a master’s program). Students without moneyed parents to support them might not be able to study at all. Furthermore, a leaflet distributed by the protesters in Mainz claims that schools are under-funded and under-staffed.

Every student I’ve asked about it has complained about these things. Every student I haven’t asked about it has complained. Yet a relatively small percentage of students have participated in the protests. Then again, students are excessively talented at substituting complaints for action, a talent that extends from the papers they aren’t writing to the protests they aren’t attending. (I should know. I used to be one of them.)

At the same time, it is heartening that somebody is saying something. Free speech, at least, is alive and well in the land of pretzels and beer. German students, though not receiving much of the government’s attention for their efforts, have shown a lot of spirit, pouring heart and soul into their squatted lecture halls and the activities they’re filling them with. Lecture halls have been squatted in 20 cities across the country.

But the administration doesn’t seem to be keen to negotiate. According to one report “Education Minister Annette Schavan has called for Germany’s 16 states to quickly implement the planned reforms.” Despite this disheartening news, student activists remain busy. Here in Mainz Tuesday’s protest drew approximately 2,000 people out on the streets and the conversation a bit further into the media spotlight. The student-occupied hall is scattered with the sleeping bags of those holding down the fort, and a full program of workshops, voküs (peoples-kitchens), and discussions fill the daylight hours.

You can read more about the student protests here in German http://de.indymedia.org/2009/11/265224.shtml and here in English  http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4888239,00.html